Kotori
by Sajira
Summary: The latest addition to the order reminds Kanda of a bird.


This is a very old, rejected story. I don't even remember where I was going with this...

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><p>Kanda breathed deeply in and closed his eyes. The training room was being used by other exorcists, so he decided to meditate on the patch of grass behind the order. He listened to his own heart rate and allowed himself to relax, the sun shining through his eyelids. A shadow suddenly blocked the light, but it was gone just as fast. Kanda frowned. It was too fast to be a cloud, so he tensed and sharpened his ears. A faint whooshing noise was coming from above, and the shadow passed over him again. He drew Mugen and stood, scanning the skies. After a while something big came from behind the order's building and swooped slowly lower. A level two Akuma? As it reached the ground flapping its large wings for balance, Kanda charged.<p>

It stood completely still. Kanda didn't back down and continued running towards it, until he could see the figure properly. He steadied his feet and stopped Mugen a hair away from a golden eye.

"What are you?" he growled.

"'Who' might be a politer word, you know..." The woman answered. She stepped away from the blade, turned and went for the entrance. Kanda followed, watching her. She had two wings sprouting from a rip in her shirt. The dark gray feathers ruffled in the wind as she walked. The stone Guardian started screaming she was an Akuma, which just made his ears ring. He watched as Allen appeared and activated his eye.

"You're not an Akuma." He stood up straight from his stance. "What are you?"

"Again, 'who' is much more polite." She rolled her eyes. Timcanpy escaped from inside Allen's coat and zoomed around the newcomer. She watched it with a small smile and her wings slowly changed to a brilliant gold. Little hearts appeared around Timcanpy and he snuggled her cheek. "You're so cute, Tim. Where's Cross?"

Kanda and Allen watched the exchange until they heard Cross being mentioned.

"You know General Cross?" Allen sweatdropped. "Do you know where he is?"

"Baka Moyashi." Kanda muttered. "She just asked where he is."

"It's Allen." The smaller man started bickering with Kanda until the doors opened and out stepped Komui and Lenalee.

"Ah, welcome" Komui smiled. "We've been expecting you."

"You have?" the woman asked.

"General Cross sent us a letter saying you would be looking for him here." Lenalee smiled.

"So I assume he isn't here…" the woman said more to herself and sighed, throwing her head back and running a hand through her dark hair. "Ah, how bothersome. Sorry for disturbing you." She spread her wings and crouched.

"Wait!" Lenalee grabbed her hand. "Aren't you here to become and Exorcist?"

"I'm sorry, what?" the woman stared at her.

"General Cross said you have innocence." Komui eyed her golden wings.

"So?"

"Tch." Kanda walked past them and entered the order.

"He's not very polite, is he?" The woman frowned and shifted her wings to midnight blue, like Kanda's hair.

"That's just how he is." Allen stepped closer with Lenalee and Komui. "My name is Allen. What's yours?"

"I don't have one." Her wings shifted to light silver as she turned her attention to Allen, who looked like he was going to question her further, but Lenalee quickly changed the subject sensing a personal conversation would not convince her to stay.

"Your innocence is so beautiful!" Lenalee exclaimed. "We should get it checked out as soon as possible!"

"I'm not an Exorcist, and don't plan on being one." The woman ruffled her wings that were slowly turning purple, the color of Lenalee's eyes. "I'm sorry I took your time, but I have things to do."

"But what about your injury?" Lenalee pointed at her side, where the black shirt was wet with blood. Allen and Komui both noticed her pale skin and seemingly weak knees. "And it also looks like you haven't eaten in a while…"

"I cannot let you leave!" Komui stated dramatically. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her off to inspect her innocence.

Allen and Lenalee waited outside and waited for the usual screams to start, but the silence only stretched until Komui followed the winged woman out the room with her wings shining a bright white.

"Didn't he hurt you?" Allen asked wide eyed.

"I think I'm too tired to notice…" the woman smiled sheepishly tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear.

"Let's take you to see Hevlaska and the infirmary, then you can sleep in the room that will be assigned to you." The led the way with Komui.

"I suppose my aversion to becoming an Exorcist is being ignored?" she asked Lenalee who was walking beside her.

"Yep!" the girl smiled at her. "Don't worry," she replied to a sigh. "you'll like it here."

"I need to find Cross." She simply stated as they stepped on the elevator.

"If he owes you something, you should just give up." Allen warned her. "We've been looking for six months…"

"He doesn't owe me anything." She muttered, staring at Hebraska, who picked her up and started analyzing her innocence.

"Gender, female…name, unknown…innocence, parasite, wings…" Komui wrote the information on a file as Hevlaska started analyzing her synchronization rate.

"96% is your synchronization rate." She put the woman down. "Welcome to the order."

"Wow, that's really high!" Komui smiled. "You'll make a great Exorcist!"

The woman sighed and put a hand over her wound.

"Let's take you to the infirmary." Lenalee pulled the woman away from Allen and her brother. "I'm so excited, the only other female Exorcist is Miranda, you'll like her, she's a bit shy, but from what I can see you don't talk much either, oh, you'll have to get your uniform done, we'll have to think of something for your wings, but first you should eat and rest, th—" Lenalee started at the hand on her mouth.

"You talk too much." The woman lowered her hand. "I think I'll like being your friend."

Lenalee's sad face brightened into a smile as she watched the other woman. Her wings slowly turned the same shade as Lenalee's eyes.

"Why does it do that?" she asked. "Your innocence, I mean."

"I don't know." The woman moved a wing in front of her and passed her fingers through the feathers. "Sometimes it's involuntary, but I can change it if I want." She held Lenalee's fingers away as the feathers turned into hundreds of sharp blades. "Very useful in battle." She shifted them back to feathers and released Lenalee's wrist.

"They're really soft." She smiled at the other woman.

"I need to clean them, they're full of muck from flying around trying to find the order…"

"We'll have to think of a name for you." Lenalee said suddenly. "What do you think?"

"I don't care much about names." The woman entered the infirmary after Lenalee. Immediately a nurse came and started bustling over the woman.

"So what do people call you?" Lenalee tilted her head.

"Usually it's just 'hey you', or something just as charming." The woman watched as the nurse cut the fabric and tossed it in a small bin next to a bed she ordered her to sit. When the wound was cleaned and the halfway stitched, the door banged open.

"I'm going, I'm going, you old panda…" A redhead entered the infirmary.

"Lavi!" Lenalee stared concerned at the many cuts and bruises on the man. "What happened?"

"Ah, just a scra—STRIKE!" he watched the woman eyeing him strangely.

Black curls fell down to pool behind her on the bed she was sitting, her sharp-featured face had big golden eyes, a cute nose and full lips. And elegant neck led to small shoulders and below were the most perfect round mounds of love Lavi had ever laid eyes on. Her slender waist was bare, and he could see muscles rippling underneath the pale skin. Her hips seemed large, Lavi made a mental note to himself to check her derriere more closely later. Thick thighs were crossed and at the end of the seemingly endless long legs were small feet, with the cutest little toes Lavi could think of.

"Hey, are you listening to me, Lavi?" Lenalee poked him.

"Wuh?" he turned his head to look at Lenalee.

"This is Lavi." She introduced him to the woman. "Lavi, this is the newest Exorcist, she…we really need to find a name for you…" she sighed.

"You don't have a name?" Lavi was led to a close bed and let a nurse start fretting over him. He smugly noticed the woman eyeing him as the nurse shed his shirt. He grinned charmingly at her. "Well, I think Angel suits you wonderfully." He watched as the pristine white wings slowly shaded over gray until they were a deep black. "Maybe not." He laughed, embarrassed.

"What did General Cross call you?" Lenalee asked.

"Hot stuff. Pair of Legs. Big boo—" the woman started counting on her fingers.

"Okay, I get it." Lenalee interrupted. She thought for a moment. "How about…Megan?"

The woman shrugged and hopped off the bed, but Lenalee saw Lavi scrunch his nose and shake his head.

"No…she doesn't look like a Megan…"

"Just pick one…" the woman sighed. The two other Exorcists noticed her eyes were drooping.

"We'll come up with something. Let's get your measurements and you can go rest." Lenalee waved goodbye to Lavi and pulled the other wither to the seamstress. On the way there, she started listing names at random, hoping for some kind of reaction, but the other just walked along, looking around with a bored expression.

When they arrived at the seamstress, the woman bustled around the new exorcist with measuring tapes and fabrics, all the while blabbering about what she would do. After what seemed like an hour, the old lady took notes on measurements and turned to the two other women.

"On who's name will this be?" she asked.

"I don't have a name." the woman repeated.

"Ah, like captain Nemo?" the old seamstress cackled. "Very well then, Nemo, I'll deliver your clothes to you when they are ready."

"Nemo?" the woman's wings perked up a little. "Nemo…I like it."

"Really?" Lenalee tilted her head. "But it's a boy's name."

"Oh." The other woman's wings turned gray and drooped a little.

"But if you like it, we could list you up as that!" Lenalee replied hastily.

"I think I like it." She answered.

"Okay, then." Lenalee noted the name on her clipboard. "Nemo, welcome to the order!"

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><p>Kanda quickened his steps. He had seen the usagi leave the infirmary, and he was running out of places to hide. He couldn't go to his room, it would be the first place anyone would look. The training room and the cafeteria were too crowded. He turned into a hallway sharply. Maybe in one of the empty rooms!<p>

He quickly slid into one not far from his own and closed the door behind him. Sighing, he locked it, just in case, and stepped back. His ankle caught something and he whirled around.

"You're standing on my wing." A tired voice came from the bed. Kanda recognized the woman from before. She was laying on her stomach, one dark blue wing propped up against the wall next to her, the other spread out across the floor, its tip underneath his foot.

"Sorry." He stepped back and made for the door.

"You're hiding from the redhead, aren't you?" she asked. Kanda looked over his shoulder to her and saw her wing shift to the color of Lavi's hair. As if on cue, the usagi's voice was heard outside the door.

"Yuu!" he called. Kanda froze and listened until his footsteps grew faint. He turned fully to the woman on the bed as she giggled. It sounded like chirping.

"You can stay if you want." She said and closed her eyes, snuggling deeper into her pillow. "Just please, let me sleep."

Kanda walked over to the small desk in the corner of the room and sat on the chair, his sword on his lap. He watched the woman silently for a couple of minutes until her breathing evened out and she fell asleep. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, starting to meditate.

_rustle_

Kanda opened his eyes again. The woman was moving in her sleep, the feathers making the noise he heard. He watched them change colors rapidly, never staying the same for more than a few seconds. His eyes wandered up her wing and to her back. The black shirt was ripped in the back to let her wings out and on the side, where he could see a bandaged wound. Her waist was slim, but her hips were curvy and led to fleshy thighs. One of her legs was bent, the other stretched. Her bare feet were gray from the dust on the floor.

"It's difficult to sleep with someone staring, you know…" he looked up to see a golden eye peek at him from between messy black curls.

"Che." Kanda looked away. From the corner of his eye, he noticed her sit up and ruffle her wings.

"Is there somewhere I can get food here?" she asked. Kanda stood and went for the door. He opened it and stood aside to let her pass first.

They walked in comfortable silence through the halls. Kanda studied the woman next to him. He liked that she was quiet.

"Yuu!"

'I was enjoying this too much.' Kanda thought.

"Ah, there you are!" he bounced between them. "Lenalee told me you picked a name?" he turned to the woman.

"Nemo." She smiled at him.

"Nemo…It's strange, but…I like it!" the redhead grinned at her. "Where are you two headed off to?" A tiny grumbling noise from Nemo answered for her. Lavi laughed. "I see. Yuu, are you being nice to her?"

"Don't call me by my first name, baka usagi!" the swordsman replied.

"Wahhh, you're so mean!" Lavi wailed. He continued caterwauling all the way to the cafeteria. They ordered and sat at an empty table. "I think Allen's found his match!" the redhead eyed the pile of food Nemo was eating. Though she did it much more ladylike and mannered, it was still a sight to behold. "So, Nemo, tell us about yourself." Lavi stole a french fry from her plate and munched on one end, leaving half of it hanging from his lips.

Nemo wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked at him, only now realizing he had her fry. She leaned towards him and bit the remaining fry off his mouth, without touching their lips.

"There's nothing to know." She backed away from a grinning Lavi and continued eating.


End file.
